COVID-19 patient's body lies on road for hours in Guntur
By Newsmeter Network Published on 19 July 2020 2:40 PM GMT
Guntur: There have been reports of COVID-19 patients being discriminated against and victims being denied funerals over fears of contamination. In one such incident, a COVID victim's body lay on the road for hours as the man's family did not come to claim the body. The patient was on his way to a hospital at Sattenapalli in the district but he died on the way there.
The COVID-19 patient, Radhakrishna, was waiting for an autorickshaw/ambulance to go to the hospital when he collapsed on the road and died. His family and relatives did not come forward to claim the body and the local people, too, ignored the dead man. The body lay on the road for over three hours as no one dared touch it.
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The police and municipal officials, after receiving information about the same, responded and sent a team. Six people from the municipal department, wearing PPEs, reached the spot and shifted the body to the crematorium.
Andhra Pradesh has so far seen at least a dozen such incidents where COVID-19 victims are denied burial or cremation. The police and municipal authorities said they will investigate the incident.
